May 2018

Pastor Andy Hagen
Advent Church Boca Raton
mmediately after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
I School shooting I noticed some Facebook posts that
were receiving “likes.” They went something like this: “Dear
God, why do you allow so much violence in schools? I’m
not allowed in schools. – God” First, this meme is just plain
wrong. I’m not aware of any obstacles that could stop God
from being anywhere God wants to be. Far from being
absent, we firmly believe that God was fully present in those
hallways, sharing in the pain, encouraging the bravery, and
even now comforting the grieving.
Secondly, that sentiment is just plain hurtful. Although it has
been 50 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against
school-led or school-sponsored prayer, there continues to
be a segment of the population, mainly Christian, that is still
unhappy with the decision. To suggest that the prohibition of
school-sponsored prayer makes God so angry that He
turns his back on tragedies is cruel. Christians who
truly believe in a loving God would never suggest
that He could be so petty and petulant. Make no
mistake, God was there and God will be there
always.
While prayer should remain a private matter,
religion should be taught in schools. It should
not be taught as we teach our children in a
private Christian school or on Sunday mornings.
Religion should be taught as an academic subject
because it is critical to our understanding of the culture
we live in. I would argue that our relative ignorance about the
variety and thoughts of the religions of this world make us less
tolerant toward people of other faiths and less informed about
our own. The lingering misunderstanding and stereotypes
ascribed to Islam after 9/11 is a tragic case in point.
I grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, which was beginning its
journey toward becoming the town with the largest proportion
of Arab-Americans in the U.S. Some of these Arab-American
students became friends, but I never learned a thing about
their faith. I recently traveled to India and had to do a
significant amount of study to get even a vague idea of their
faith. I live in Boca Raton and share half of my Bible with
Jewish neighbors but do not feel I know their beliefs as well as
I should. Yet I am afraid our students are getting even less a
perspective than I have sought as an adult.
I am not sure how religion is taught in our public school
curriculum today. But I am sure that it needs to be taken
seriously as a subject because religion is a serious matter.
No matter what faith or lack of faith our students have, they
will be entering very soon into a world where faith matters. To
send them out ignorant of religion’s role in culture would be
a shame and do nothing to improve the divisiveness in our
culture. They deserve to know about the values, hopes, and
convictions of those who will be their neighbors. P
COMMON GROUND
Should Religion Be Taught In Schools?
Rabbi Melissa Stollman
Director of Lifelong Learning, Congregation Kol Tikvah
have noticed as a parent that religious holidays are often
I touched upon in our public schools. However, they are
not the holidays that my family celebrates. Sometimes the
teaching about them is explicit, and sometimes it is a bit
more hidden by using characters such as bunnies near
Easter or reindeer near Christmas. Other holidays that are
celebrated that conflict with Jewish ideals are St. Patrick’s
Day and St. Valentine’s Day.
I guess if Jewish holidays were equally represented I would
not be as sensitive about this issue, but they are not. This
means my children learn that they are “different.” What is
taught in school is not reinforced at home, which is typically
a value we strongly uphold. At 5 years of age, my children
must learn that these characters and days to wear green and
red are only for school because this is not something we
do at home.
This is often what it is like for a Jewish person
who may not appear to be part of a minority
but actually is due to religious beliefs.
Therefore, I strongly believe religion should
not be taught in schools. History, diversity,
and culture should be taught, but asking
school children to celebrate a holiday is not
appropriate. Not only does it violate the notion
of “separation of church and state” put forth
by Thomas Jefferson stemming from the First
Amendment, it alienates children as they learn they are
different than their friends.
In order to maintain our religious liberties it is important this
must be followed. Allowing public schools to bring religion,
mostly Christianity, into the classroom, puts the schools and
teachers at risk of lawsuits and loss of governmental funding.
“Families entrust public schools with the education of their
children, but condition their trust on the understanding
that the classroom will not purposely be used to advance
religious views that may conflict with the private beliefs of the
student and his or her family. Students in such institutions
are impressionable and their attendance is involuntary. The
State exerts great authority and coercive power through
mandatory attendance requirements, and because of the
students’ emulation of teachers as role models and the
children’s susceptibility to peer pressure. … In no activity of
the State is it more vital to keep out divisive forces than in its
schools.” Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578, 584 (1987).
By law, our children must attend school. This time should be
used for learning core subjects that are universal and leave
religious education to the family. The Anti-Defamation League
has excellent resources that further discuss this issue. Please
visit www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/-
religion-in-public-schools if you are interested in learning
more about the complexities that surround this topic. P
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MAY 2018